


Old is Gone and New is Here

by natascha_ronin



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-03-09 19:41:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13488423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natascha_ronin/pseuds/natascha_ronin
Summary: Hooked Queen and Knightrook fic. OUAT S7 AU. Gift for @killianmesmalls for Once Upon a Festive Gift Giving.**brief mentions of drunken sexual encounters**





	Old is Gone and New is Here

Regina arrives in London during that soft lull between Christmas and New Years. She makes it through customs at Heathrow in record time, her head swimming from the ten hour flight, joints achy. She can never sleep on a plane, despite the free drinks, ear plugs, and eye mask. 

The tube is even quiet, empty seats and a sense of calm over the passengers. For Regina, it sets the tone for the day, as she kicks her boots up on the empty seat next to her and cues up Joni Mitchell on her winter playlist. She’s glad for it; her family is a complicated mess without jet lag, and Regina lives five-thousand miles from her sister for that very reason. Time and distance has healed them enough to make trips like this possible, but she still prefers to spend Christmas with friends. 

She supposes she could have let her sister meet her at the airport, but it’s better to decompress from the flight before the ache of seeing her niece, and the whirlwind of extroversion that exudes from Zelena.

She walks the two blocks from Holland Park Station to her sister’s house, tugging her leather jacket around her. It’s not a cheap neighborhood to rent in, let alone own a three-bedroom semi-detached house in, but a celebrity fitness instructor is sure to be raking in the big bucks. She sighs, ringing the doorbell. 

She takes a deep breath and runs her tongue over her teeth, sucking up the last twelve hours like it wasn’t a pain in the ass to get here. 

The door opens and Regina’s met by a blonde-haired young lady who isn’t her niece.

“Oh, hullo!” Her smile is as wide as her eyes, bunny teeth poking out over her bottom lip. “You must be Robin’s aunt.” She pokes out a hand from beneath her red sweater.

Regina shakes it. “Yeah, I’m Regina.” She smiles expectantly.

“Alice Jones.” She smiles even wider. “Pleasure to meet you.” 

Alice opens the door wide and starts walking backwards into the living room, still beaming at Regina, busy hanging up her jacket and taking off her shoes. 

At least Zelena inherited neatness from their mother. 

She hears her niece call down, “Is that you, Aunt Gina?”

And suddenly, she’s engulfed in a million emotions, Robin Mills walking down the stairs, her mother’s gait but her father’s face and hair, and she’s lovely and unique and all woman. She embraces Regina and she’s home, longing and anxiety melting as they breathe each other in. 

Robin leans back, tears in her eyes but a smile on her face. “You came.”

Regina squeezes her shoulders. “Of _course_ I came.”

Robin backs away and gestures toward the living room. “Mom isn’t here yet, but I see you’ve met my girlfriend, Alice.” 

Alice stands in the middle of the room, hands clasped, and an enigmatic smile on her face. Regina can’t help but feel drawn to her. “Zelena mentioned you were seeing someone at school.”

Robin laughs. “Yeah, we met back in September –“

“You mean, you knocked me over in the hallway whilst running at full-speed and sent my books flying everywhere.” Alice pokes her tongue out of the corner of her mouth. 

“And you casually slipped your number into my phone while I was picking up said books.” Robin smiles fondly.

“You didn’t have a lock screen on it.” Alice bats her eyes. 

“You also took my Physics book so I would make sure to text you.”

“You _did_ text me, though, so it worked.”

“ _Pirate_ ,” Robin mouths. 

“Of your –“ 

Regina clears her throat.

Robin turns back to Regina, face slightly flushed. “Can I get you something to drink, Aunt Regina?” 

 

Regina is settling into her room, jet lag weighing on her bones. After the introductions, she and Robin and Alice had a light lunch and talked about the girls’ semester at university. They’re both at Exeter, and, coincidentally, their parents live in London. Alice’s father is a detective and lives in Sutton. She took a gap year, so she’s a year older than Robin. 

Regina sits down and clutches a pillow to her chest, fatigue making her emotional. Robin had grown up in California; first in San Francisco, then at an equestrian boarding school in Ojai when her mother’s career as a fitness instructor and health coach took off. Zelena thought it was better for Robin to grow up in the same place for most of the year while she filmed reality TV shows and workout DVD’s in New York and LA. Regina had stayed put in Seattle, the pain of seeing Robin and her mother too much after the death of her husband. 

A knock at the door interrupts her thoughts. 

“Regina?” It’s her sister. “May I come in?”

“Yeah,” Regina calls out from her perch, tossing the pillow back against the headboard. 

The door opens and Zelena smiles warmly. “Hey, there. The girls told me you got in.”

Regina smiles back. “Yeah, they fed me lunch. Alice is a sweetheart.”

Zelena leans against the doorjamb, laughing. “Yeah, you know young love.”

Regina’s face falls a little. “Yeah.”

Her sister seems to remember herself, blinking rapidly and taking a deep breath. “So, your flight was good?”

“Oh, yeah. It was nice. Norwegian does Seattle to London nonstop.”

“You could’ve let me know what time your flight landed. I’d have hired a car.”

“Nah.” Regina blinks blearily. “I like public transportation.”

Zelena shoots her an incredulous smile. “If mother could hear you, she’d be rolling over in her grave.”

Regina reaches down to remove her socks, wiggling her toes. “Yeah, well, mom’s tastes never did impress me much.” 

Zelena sits down and giggles. Gossiping about their terrible mom is always a good middle ground. “Speaking of which, how’s the wasted inheritance doing?”

“Good. Business is picking up in the neighborhood.” She nods slowly. “Some hoity-toity title company is investing heavily into some gentrification project, which is a fancy term for putting in a Whole Foods and farm-to-table restaurants so more rich hipsters will move there.”

“Sounds positively capitalist.” Zelena shakes her head.

Regina grimaces. “Whatever.” She waves her hand around. “But with all of the new people coming around the bar, I’ve had to start stocking La Croix for mixers and micro-brew IPA’s.”

“Dreadful!”

Regina flops back and stretches against the duvet. “I draw the line at beer flights and cheese plates, though. I have to retain some dignity.”

“Speaking of retaining dignity…”

Regina cracks an eye open. “What?”

“I’m having a little soiree tonight.”

“I thought we discussed this. The whole reason I decided to visit between the holidays is to avoid the big Christmas lunch with you and your fitness-freak friends, and New Year’s Eve with your _drunken_ fitness-freak friends.”

“I know, I _know_.” Zelena sighs. “But Robin and Alice didn’t really spend Christmas together, and yesterday was Boxing Day so we were all out shopping together with her father –“

“Alice’s dad?”

“Yes, he’s the nicest guy, just like his daughter.” She cocks her head. “I told him all about you.”

Regina closes her eyes. She knows what this is. “Alright, just give me a little time to nap these bags out from under my eyes.”

“It’s only about ten of us, just the friends who were out of town at Christmas.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She yawns. “I’ll wear something respectable.”

“Not that leopard-printed pair of boots you left in my front hall?”

Regina snorts. “Don’t push your luck.”

 

The bags under her eyes don’t go away with the three-hour nap she indulges in. It’s a byproduct of being forty, for sure, but she’s got good concealer to cover them up. She curls her hair a little for the party, donning a sensible black dress and a pair of dark purple Louboutin pumps. 

_Her big sister can’t always get her way_ , she thinks, winking at her reflection as she wraps a leopard-printed scarf around her neck. 

She walks downstairs and guests have started arriving, so she heads to the kitchen to help with dinner. 

“Regina, dear, I trust you’re rested?” Zelena shoves a plate of kale salad at her. The rest of the food is set up in chafing dishes, likely catered. 

_Ten people and a small soiree my ass._

Regina pretends to enjoy a bite. “Mmm, yes.”

“Great,” she taps her on the shoulder. “Make sure you stay hydrated.”

_Typical Zelena._

The rest of the food looks equally unappetizing. _Ugh, jet lag_. She grabs a small sandwich (some kind of seed bread-looking thing) and a glass of wine and moves over to where Robin is sitting on the arm of a couch in the living room, talking to Victoria Belfrey, Zelena’s neighbor who’s had more plastic surgery than her first Barbie doll. Regina gives a little wave and takes another bite of kale.

Robin leans over and whispers, “Alice and I are sneaking out later to get curry and beer. You down?”

“Hell yes.” 

Alice walks over and plops down next to Regina, reaches over and snags the sandwich off of her plate.

“Hey.” Regina glares at her. 

She gives her a huge smile as she shoves the whole thing in her mouth, cheeks puffed out and eyes twinkling mischievously.

“Didn’t I teach you better manners than that, love?”

Regina looks up to the dark-haired man walking in their direction, wearing all black. He’s looking at Alice with amused irritation. 

“Sorry, papa,” Alice says with a mouth full of stolen food. 

He holds out his right hand in front of him and Regina takes it. It’s warm. “Killian Jones, I take it you’ve met my daughter, Alice?”

Regina smiles, hoping she doesn’t have kale stuck in her teeth. “Yeah, I’m Robin’s aunt, Regina Mills.” 

“Oh, from Seattle, Washington?”

She nods, letting go of his hand. “That’s me. Just flew in this morning.”

“Oi, you must be exhausted.” He keeps eye contact with her and she notices they’re a nice shade of blue. 

“Pretty much.” 

Robin taps her on the shoulder. “Let me get you a plate of sandwiches.” She looks at Killian. “Mister Jones, do you want anything?”

“I told you before, it’s just ‘Killian’.” He looks over his shoulder towards the kitchen. “Is there cake, perhaps?”

Robin gives him a sympathetic look. “No, sorry.” She frowns and looks over at Regina. “Just chocolate-quinoa energy balls.”

Killian and Regina exchange a grimace. 

Regina lifts her glass. “There’s wine, though.”

“I don’t drink.”

Alice hops up off of the couch. “Sit down, papa. I’ll get you a seltzer with lime.”

Killian watches her with an indulgent smile as he sits down next to Regina. In the kitchen, Robin picks up sandwiches while Alice feeds her fruit. 

“They’re a cute couple.” Regina looks over at Killian. He’s watching them with a smirk on his face. From the side, she can see gray in his beard and around his temples in his close-cropped hair. 

“Aye, that they are.” He turns back to Regina. “Alice was worried she wouldn’t make any friends at uni.”

“Robin was scared of the same thing, being an American and only knowing a handful of her mother’s friends here.”

Alice appears and hands Killian a plate of sandwiches and fruit with the promised glass of seltzer water. She gives him a pointed look – “Share – “ and bops him on the nose before scampering off to talk to Robin and the other guests. Killian balances the plate on his knee and props it up with a prosthetic hand. 

_I was late noticing that_. Regina sighs deeply. She needs a nap to recover from her nap. She takes another sip of wine and crosses her legs. “So, Alice tells me you’re a detective for the London Police.”

He grins boyishly and takes a drink. “Aye, well, detective chief inspector. I work in the Criminal Investigation Department. I was just promoted.” 

He has the same bunny teeth as his daughter. _Cute._

“Must be a lot of hours.” 

“Oh, yeah, but it’s just me at home now, so it passes the time.” 

“Yeah, Alice mentioned it was just the two of you. Are you divorced?”

He grimaces. “Ah, no. Never married, me.” He busies himself with balancing his plate while he sets the glass down on the end table.

She could kick herself. He’s obviously embarrassed. “Sorry.”

“No worries. Her mum was never in the picture. It was a long time ago.” He takes a bite out of a sandwich and makes a face. 

Seizing the opportunity to change the subject, she picks one up. “Are they that bad?” She moves to take a bite but he snatches it out of her hand and puts it back on the plate before swallowing and taking a large swig of water.

“Ugh. Rubbish.” He smiles at her. “I couldn’t let you do that to yourself.”

“My sister and her disgusting food.” She sets the uneaten salad on the coffee table across from them, earning a look of disdain from Victoria. 

“Beats the marmalade sandwiches I always fed Alice growing up.”

“Marmalade sandwiches sound like heaven compared to this.” She flops back and tugs at her scarf. 

“So, what do you do, Regina?” 

She winks at him. “Disgrace the family name.” 

That earns her a chuckle. “Well, you _are_ the younger sister, I presume?”

Regina smiles and narrows her eyes. “I am.”

“But what I’m curious about,” he leans closer to her, “is where your accents parted ways. I’ll bet there’s a story there.”

She laughs, biting her lip. “That’s part of my disgrace.” She takes another sip of wine. “I’m the rebellious one.” 

“Do tell.” 

“My mother gave my sister up for adoption, and an English family adopted her. She grew up here. I grew up in the states.” She plays with her glass. “When my mother died, after marrying into a wealthy family and grooming me to take over their business, I found out about Zelena. Then, I met a handsome ne’er-do-well and used my big, fat family inheritance to buy a building and open a bar. Robin and I found Zelena and gave her half of the money. Instant disgrace.”

“What about your father?” 

“He had a heart attack when I was fifteen.”

“Robin is…” 

Regina looks down at her lap. “Gone twelve years now. He’s _also_ Robin’s father.”

Killian’s eyebrows shoot up. “Pardon?” 

“He and my sister had a drunken one-night-stand – well, he was drunk.”

“Bloody hell.”

“Sorry, I’m jet-lagged and terrible at making small-talk.” She sits up. “You should probably go find someone fun to talk to.” She’s embarrassed, tired, and a little bit tipsy already from the wine. She puts her wine glass down next to the unfortunate salad.

Killian shakes his head. “Not at all. I’m a detective, remember? Do your worst.” 

Regina laughs. “You wanna get out of here?”

“I know a great place.”

 

Regina Mills is actually lovely. 

Well, once they leave her sister’s cheerless dinner party, which isn’t difficult feat since they’re being ignored for stories of juice cleanses and paleo diets and marathons. 

He approached her at the party solely because she was hanging around the few people he knew in a room full of people he didn’t, and he sat next to her because she was bold and brave enough to tell him her sad story. 

It doesn’t hurt that she’s beautiful and curvy from her hair to her heels. 

They skirted painful memories on the couch, so he tells her a happy tale from his time in the Royal Navy about how the Chief’s Mess tried to upgrade their footwear by tearing them up, but only got a new pair of old plywood deck shoes for his trouble. 

“So there we were, having tea and oggies, and Smee crashes through the door, cussing and pissing on about how they haven’t upgraded the deck shoes since World War two, and he’s holding the bleeding things aloft like he won’t have anything to do with them!” Regina is bowling over on the sidewalk laughing. It might be the first time he’s ever told that tale to anyone, and he’s grinning from ear to ear. 

“Did he wear them?” Her eyes are shining and her smile wide.

“Aye, he didn’t have a choice since we were deployed. I can still remember him limping ashore at every port, his feet covered in plasters, muttering death threats to the storeman.”

She’s still laughing as they walk into the pub. She slaps his chest with her hand. “Hey, I thought you didn’t drink.”

“I don’t, but Will here serves the best roast and pudding this side of the Thames.” He leans over and pulls her coat from her shoulders. “Don’t worry, love. He doesn’t cook it – his wife tends the food in the back.” 

Will, as it turns out, has a foot-shaped mouth around beautiful women. 

“What’ll ya have?”

Regina sits back and gestures at Killian. “I’ll try the roast. He says it’s good.”

Will winks at her, an ugly thing for a guy with such a pretty face. “Aye, it is, too, but don’t be listening to anything this tosser says. My missus got that recipe from my side of the family.” He looks between them. “I suppose she’ll be wanting a white wine with that dress and those shoes, eh?” The bastard sticks his pinky finger out and dances around. 

Regina looks him in the eye and smiles succinctly. “Sussex Mild.”

He sobers. “Apologies, then.” He nods and walks back behind the bar. 

Regina looks over her shoulder and yells, “And please tilt that at a forty-five degree angle. I don’t like a big head.”

She turns back to him and he’s smirking, trying not to laugh as Will yells, “Aye-aye, baked bean!”

Killian chuckles at the confused look on her face. “He just called you a queen.”

Will walks over and plops down headless ale and a glass of water. 

She shrugs and smirks. “Well, I am.”

“You’re certainly majestic,” he mutters as he catches her eye. 

Their meals arrive shortly after and they tuck in (he likes the fast service and good food here, even if Will is a pain in the arse). Killian always enjoys watching a hungry woman eat, and Regina is no different. She licks the sauce from her lips, moans in appreciation of the ale paired with the roast, and devours every last morsel. They talk about her bar, about his job, and linger over pudding while he reminisces about Alice’s childhood. 

“So, she brought one of her friends home one day when she was fourteen, and they walked into her room and turned the music on quite loud.” He reaches over and steals a piece of pudding with his fingers, swipes it through the brandy butter on her plate before popping it in his mouth. 

She smirks at him. “And that was when she told you?” 

Killian shakes his head. “No, I figured it out. Detective, remember?” 

She snickers. “How did that conversation go?”

He gestures and points into the distance, remembering the girl leaving and Alice walking back to her room, that curiosity had won him over. “I asked her, ‘Alice, love? Do you like girls?’ and she said, ‘Aye, papa, I do.’ ‘Do you like boys, as well?’ ‘Nah, I don’t. Just the girls.’” He looks back at Regina. “And that’s that.”

Regina smiles. 

He remembers the pictures in his wallet, so he pulls them out. “Three months ago, she sent me these.” He slides the strip of photos across the table. “Her note said, ‘She’s beautiful, and she’s all mine,’ and that was when I knew.” 

She looks up from the pictures of Alice and Robin in a photo booth, making funny faces before forgetting the camera and kissing. “Knew what?”

He nods to the pictures. “She’s in love.”

Regina smiles knowingly and hands the pictures back to him. “They both are. It’s obvious.”

“Aye.” He feels sad, suddenly, knowing that one part of parenthood is over, and a more marginal part is beginning. Alice is growing up, dependent on someone else for love, and he must become less. He’s not certain what role fits best anymore: father or friend. He’s in limbo.

Regina turns her empty beer glass around on the table and gazes at him. “What about you, Killian? Have you found love?”

It seems a silly question for a middle-aged man to be answering, but he does. “A long time ago, but she’s gone. Back when I was a young man in the navy.”

“Not –“ _Alice’s mother._

He shakes his head. “No. Her name was Milah. She died.”

She looks at him, and he swears she can see right through him with her dark brown eyes. It’s the look of grief shared with another. It’s the kindred spirit of lost love. 

“Are you two planning to close the place down?” Will interrupts to pick up their spent dishes and glasses. 

“I forgot what time the bars close here.” Regina sighs and stretches. “What I wouldn’t give to kick everybody out at ten instead of two.” She yawns. 

“Well, you’re better for it, as jet-lagged as you must be.” Killian reaches in his wallet to pull out his credit card. 

“Oh, let me give you something for the check.” Regina reaches around for her purse. 

“Please, allow me.” He reaches his hand out and gestures in earnest. “It isn’t often I have the pleasure of someone else’s company for dinner anymore.”

Regina purses her lips. “Well, sure. On one condition.”

He quirks an eyebrow in question.

“I’m in town until Sunday.” She covers his outstretched hand with her own. “Rescue me from starvation again and I’ll pay you back.”

His blue eyes meet hers. “You’ve got a date.”

 

He walks her back to her sister’s house, and wonders if tomorrow night is too soon to ask her out to dinner. They exchange numbers at the door, the chatter of the party still going inside. 

She hands him his phone. “I’ll see you soon, Killian.”

“I hope so.” He raises his eyebrow and leans into her. Hoping.

She doesn’t miss it, and her lips meet his softly. 

There’s a cat-call from the sidewalk. They both turn around, and Alice and Robin are standing there, grinning from ear to ear. 

Alice turns to Robin. “Told you.” 

Killian backs down the steps, slowly releasing Regina’s hand. She mouths goodnight and disappears into the house. He turns to Alice and Robin.

“Need a lift home?” 

“Sure.” Alice pecks Robin on the cheek and nuzzles her with her nose. “See you later, love.”

Killian puts his arm around Alice as they walk to his car around the corner. 

“Did you have a nice time, papa?” She dips under his arm and twirls herself around. 

“I did.” 

“Are you going to see Regina again?” She bites her lip and raises her eyebrows. 

He unlocks the car and they climb in. “I certainly hope so.”

“Good.”

As they drive off down the street, he thinks that after all this time, it’s a good thing, too.


End file.
